The Games
by 66000
Summary: Richard Rogers and Katherine Beckett's lives are thrown together when they are called as tributes for the hunger games. Will they make it out alive? Will they have enough time to admit their love for one another or die before it comes to light? AU.
1. Chapter 1

"This year the tributes will not be a boy and girl necessarily, we will pick two of you from each district. Also, a boy and girl may win together, but only if they are from the same district. There are no other new rules and any changes to these rules will not be effective this year." This speech was announced every year at the reaping. I remained silent and waited for the two names of the poor souls that would have to give their lives to the game.

"Katherine Beckett!" My eyes widened in shock my breath sped up to the same speed that my heart was frantically beating at. Heat washed over me and I knew it was from the fear that was inevitable. My name, they had just called my name, those puppets from the capitol just announced that I would be the next to parish from district twelve and they didn't even care. I took purposeful measured steps and held a poker face until I was standing next to a woman that looked like a munchkin in munchkin land from the wizard of oz. I looked at her brightly colored clothing and powdered face. She was dressed as a clown compared to my braided and pined brown hair and simple green dress. My mother left it to me after her death she always told me it would be mine one day, because the color was a perfect match for my eyes. I thought back to Ryan and Esposito two of the best people in the world. After my mother died they became like brothers to me they taught me to hunt, to shoot with a bow and arrow and to throw knives like a pro and most importantly how to survive in the woods. I couldn't leave though. My father tried so hard to stay strong for me but it just made it worse when he fell apart and I had to pick up the pieces. Drawing me out of my haze another name was called.

"Richard Rogers! Oh how lovely a boy and a girl from district twelve!" I watched as he looked up at his fate, his eyes connected with mine and I could see the love and the life in them being crushed as he to put on a poker face as well. We shook hands and as we touched I felt a spark course up the length of my arm. For a moment I felt the mask, void of emotion, slip, the girl I showed to the world was replaced with the real me. I gazed up into his eyes and fell into the watery depths of his ocean blue eyes. I trusted him from the moment I saw him. I recognized him from school, he sat in a corner everyday reading a book or writing in a note pad or observing his classmates. The impeccable trust I had for this boy stemmed from the sudden realization that he would be one of my only chances of survival in the next few weeks. I didn't dare talk though. I just accepted my fate and let myself be led to a back room where they were to let people visit me for the last time. In walked Esposito his hand was linked with my best friend Lanie's. After them came Ryan. The moment Lanie saw me she ran to me. We hugged for what seemed minutes but was really only a few seconds. I didn't let myself break down and cry at the thought of my impending death.

"Kate, you can win this, you can out run Javi and Kev and you are amazing at hunting and surviving in the woods and you're smarter than everyone else in school. You also have that hottie Rick on your side. Come home for me and then I will tell you about my budding relationship with Esposito." She whispered the last part into my ear. After they left, I was ushered into a train made of steel I looked at Rick; he finally let his face drop.

"Kate, we need a plan, first we need to get the public to like us and then we need to figure out how to survive in the hunger games." He said. I nodded entranced by the way his voice caressed each word as he said it. Suddenly the door was thrust open.

"What's this I hear about planning?" A female voice boomed.

"We need a plan otherwise we will die." I said, quite aggravated with the woman.

"Well then I am Victoria Gates call me Gates and you might as well include me in the discussion considering that I am your mentor." She looked at me with a grin.

"Feisty and pretty, we can work with that." She said looking at me as though I was an object she was trying to sell.

"Don't talk about Kate like that." Rick growled in a voice that didn't sound human. For the first time Gates' eyes flicked to Rick.

"Protective, now this I can really work with. Tell me your strengths." Gates' said as she looked us over.

"Kate is an amazing hunter give her a bow and arrow or a knife and she'll have the animal you want dead within the hour, considering she doesn't already know where one is, and she can run like no other, she has great cardio health and she is extremely smart she knows what plants will heal you and what will kill you and she is extremely strong for her size and can easily take down opponents that have a good fifty pounds on her. Oh and she knows how to survive in the woods a skill that will probably save our asses. "I turned to Rick and just stared at him, who knew he paid so much attention to me. Gates looked curiously between the two of us. It kind of made me mad, I wanted to show her that I knew about Rick too.

"Yeah, well Rick is extremely smart. He picks things up very quickly. His uncle is a butcher so he can handle knives and throw them as well as I can plus he's strong he can carry hundred pound deer and he has muscled legs that are good for running and climbing. He's really observant which will help us when fighting against other tributes and he is personable which will help us get sponsors." I told Gates never taking my eyes off of Rick. His eyebrows shot up.

"I never knew you paid so much attention to me Kate I'm flattered." He said with a smirk on his face.

"Don't be I picked the majority of that information up from the reaping and sitting next to you on the train." I defended.

"And the rest of it? How did you know that my uncle is a butcher?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I said grinning.

"I most certainty would!"

"Well as you said Rick, I am a hunter, when I get a bigger animal I sell it to your uncle." I said easily falling into the simple rhythm of bickering with him.

"So you have noticed me!"

"Yes I noticed you playing darts with knives; you almost hit me in the head before you developed the skills you have now."

"So you have observed a change in my ability you must have noticed me!" I rolled my eyes.

"Yes I noticed when I didn't have to duck out of the way of knives being thrown askew anymore." Rick was about to say something when Gates coughed.

"You are in love." Both our heads whipped to her.

"What?" We exclaimed in unison.

"That is what will keep you alive. Bicker just as you did now. Stare into each other's eyes, hint at your love but don't say it outright, not yet. Build the tension, then when one of you is half dead and you need something to save yourselves admit your love for one another, add in a fiery kiss and you will have sponsors wrapped around your fingers. "I glanced at Rick as I went over it in my head. I nodded it made sense, it could work.

"Alright as long as we can stay alive, I'm game." I said. Rick looked into my eyes and then glanced at something behind my head. His eyes widened.

"We're here." He mumbled. We had arrived at the capitol.


	2. Chapter 2

I was currently sitting in an empty room waiting for my stylist to enter. I had been washed, all over, and had my hair waxed and plucked all of my hair, my body was completely bare. Just then a red headed woman walked in. She looked professional but was dressed in normal clothes unlike the rest of the clowns at the capitol.

"Hello, I'm Alexis but call me Alex. I will help you in any way I can but mostly I am your stylist. "

"Hey Alex, I'm Kate. I know you're supposed to dress Rick and I up for our big first impression. I was wondering if you could incorporate that we are pretending to be in love." I said.

"Hmm well that is certainly the most interesting greeting I've had in a while. Well your district is coal miners right? Well we can use coals for fire and heat, wait that's a great idea! Kate I need to go, but trust me you will be the best dressed tributes out there!" She said before running off. I grinned and went to find her. Once I caught up to Alex she was standing with Rick handing him his outfit. She saw me and handed me one to change into as well. Once we were changed Alex looked us over.

"Alright you two now you two are going to touch hands and when you do sparks will fly up and down your arms okay? Then after that once you are in the middle of the long road you go down Rick I want you to wrap your arm around her shoulder and then Kate you wrap your arm around his waste your suits will catch fire it will only look like you are on fire none of this is real, it is perfectly safe." I nodded and saw Rick do the same.

Soon enough it was time to go. All of the other tributes went before us and they all had costumes that went with their district.

"Now Rick take my hand and raise it with yours over our heads." We held hands and raised them despite the fake sparks going down my arm; it felt like sparks were literally going down my arm. The crowd went crazy but quieted down once Rick dropped my hand. He put his arm around my shoulders and I put mine around his waist I really did feel like I was on fire and not from the fake fire emanating from my back. His touch lit my body on fire. The crowd went crazy again and I knew we were well on our way to getting sponsors. None of the other tributes were playing the lover act. The pairs were mostly two girls or two boys. There were two other pairs that would be able to go home together but in both pairs the girl was eighteen and the boy was twelve. Once we got back to our rooms Gates wanted to have a meeting with us.

"You guys were great! They are starting to call you the power couple from district twelve. Now, when you get interviewed you can choose to do it alone or together I want you to do it together and bicker, stare into each other's eyes. Be in love and the crowed will be yours in no time. But don't oversell it. Pretend you are in love but you haven't admitted it yet. That way other tributes won't figure out they can use it against you. Tomorrow night we will meet here again but then we will talk about the do's and the don'ts in training." I nodded and went to take a seat by the window. I was confused. Rick was sending all these emotions through me and I wasn't used to it. Ever since my mother died I was always emotionless, I didn't feel a thing no one could get through my walls. But Rick, he just comes barreling in and now I have a reason to win, even more so than seeing Lanie and Esposito and Ryan all again, I have to date Rick the one guy that can get through my exterior and make my insides melt. We have to win, for ourselves and for each other. I sighed and decided to just go to bed but then Rick sat down next to me and all my plans changed.

"Kate, are you okay with all of this?" He asked with a worried face.

"With what?" I asked. He was so cute when he was nervous.

"With pretending to be on love with me, I know Gates kind of pushed us into this. I could get her to change her mind if you're not comfortable with it." I grinned at him.

"Rick, I like this idea I think it's the one of the best ways we will be able to stay alive and get sponsors." I said sincerely.

The next day I was back with Alex talking about possible ideas for our matching outfits for the interviews.

"Well we wanna keep the matching theme. You could wear a silver dress and Rick could wear a red shirt. Then when you guys touch a fire will spread over your dress and turn it red. What do you think?" I looked at her with wide eyes.

"That is amazing!" I grinned at her and went to go eat lunch. When I came back Rick was wearing a red shirt and Alex was holding up a dress for me. I smiled at both of them, and quickly changed into my dress.

"Wow Kate you look beautiful, you are stunning, extraordinary!" He mumbled I almost laughed but then I caught a glimpse of his face. He was completely serious he had this look about him like he was ready to ravish me.

"Thank you Rick, you don't look so bad yourself. So the plan is to act like we are in love and if he asks about the flames well we have a little trick up our sleeve."

"Right okay I'm ready." He said. I grinned at him and we went to meet our host, Samuel Sanders.

"Last but not least we have the power couple from District twelve, Kate and Rick!" He announced as we walked on stage. We smiled to the audience and then sat down with Sam.

"Hello Rick, Kate, you both look great tonight!" He said. I smiled at him while Rick murmured his thanks.

"So, we all saw you last night and I must say. WOW! Were the sparks and the fire between you two real?" He asked being much to over dramatic.

"Yes everything was real. We even have some fire between us tonight would you like to see?" I asked baiting him and the audience knowing they would ask to see our cool trick.

"Well would we?" Sam asked the audience. They screamed the affirmative. I stood and motioned for Rick to do the same.

"Okay Rick, you stand there and now hold out your hands." I told him I touched my hands to his and laughed as the crowd went wild as my dress looked like it had caught on fire then changed color. Sam looked shocked.

"That was lovely you two thank you for sharing that with us." He said.

"Now if you could each describe each other in one word what would it be?" He asked. I thought for a second.

"One second." I said I leaned into Rick and put my hand up so the audience couldn't see my face. Rick quickly caught on and did the same. The audience laughed loudly.

"Rick I am going to say harsh words to make them laugh you say good words. Okay?" I whispered. He nodded.

"Alright we are prepared to answer the question now." I told Sam, the audience cracked up again.

"One word to describe Rick, hmm I would have to say...annoying." The audience laughed even harder.

"Amazing." Rick replied I frowned at him.

"Irksome."

"Intelligent."

"Irritating."

"Lovely."

"Irresponsible."

"Perfect."

"Agitating"

"Wonderful"

"Nine year-old on a sugar rush."

"Enchanting."

"Cocky."

"Breath taking"

"Insufferable."

"Extraordinary." I looked at him my eyes widened and I smiled a true smile that reached my eyes.

By this time Sam was just looking on in interest to what would happen next. As we were spewing words back and forth we were inching towards each other and now we were just one sinful step away from kissing. We stared into each other's eyes deeply. Then the audience got louder and we broke eye contact glancing at the audience and inching apart our faces matching the red of our clothes.

"Wow you guys are just amazing, now the question that is on everyone's mind, what will make you the winners?" He asked winking at the audience knowing that certainly was not the question on everyone's mind.

"I think Kate and I have a lot of raw ability, and attraction." He said winking and nudging Sam. I rolled my eyes dramatically.

"Sure Ricky, we have a ton of raw ability and attraction between us." I said trailing my left pointer finger up from his belt loop to his chest. I was making fun of him and the audience was eating it up. Then Rick visibly gulped, like I was really affecting him.

"Oh, you'd better keep your eye on that girl Rick she's definitely a keeper! We certainly will be watching to see how this unusual pair turns out. I have just one last question before you go. What is your motivation to win?" I glanced at Rick kind of staking my claim on the question.

"Well certainly for me I know I have to win; both for myself and for Rick. I want to go home and see my friends again settle down and start a family. Maybe find a husband." I looked at Rick as if I was considering him for that position. I pretended to think it over for a moment made a disappointed face and then shrugged my shoulders. The audience cracked up.

"I agree completely with Kate, well, except for the husband, I think maybe just maybe, now I'm just brainstorming here, I think that maybe a wife would suit me better." The audience ate it up and was laughing for what seemed like the thousandth time that night.

"Alright we'll I'm afraid that's all the time we have for tonight, give it up for Kate and Rick!" We smiled and waved as we walked off stage.


	3. Chapter 3

Three days later I was about to go into the room where they tested our skills, I slowly walked in when they called my name. I noticed in the middle of the room there was a large lobster that looked like the dinner that was about to be served. I announced my name but no one took notice. I shot three perfect kill shots with my bow and arrow. No one noticed. It must have been time for lunch; they didn't even look at me. I groaned in frustration. I took a knife and threw it at the lobster. The knife went straight through the hard shell and stuck into the wall with the lobster skewered onto it. The room fell silent. Everyone looked at me. I rolled my eyes.

"As I was trying to show you before I am obviously skilled with a bow and a knife. Thanks for your consideration." I said and sauntered out of the hall. Everyone just stared in my wake.

"Kate! What did you do to them in there?" Rick asked after he was done.

"Nothing much just showed off why?"

"When I walked in they all were watching me curiously and then when I picked up a knife they asked if I was going to try to cut there dinner for them. It was like I missed out on some joke, I was wondering if you got it. Then after I had thrown around a couple knives I grabbed the bow and one of the men brought out a lobster and asked me to try to hit it. So I hit the lobster with an arrow and then it stuck into the wall. After that all the men looked delighted like I was mother Theresa preforming a miracle or something." I nodded at him and was about to start telling him my story when Gates interrupted.

"Kate! What were you thinking? You could have killed one of them recklessly throwing that knife! I can't believe you aimed for the lobster! Their dinner! That was very rude! I have half a mind to make you go apologize for what you've done but I'm afraid they have already given all the tributes scores." She said breathing heavily.

"Okay so we should go watch for our scores then?" I asked her. She nodded angrily glaring at me.

We were all seated in front of the T.V. the best scores from the districts so far had been tens. Rick and I watched in horror as our faces appeared on screen.

"What do you think we'll get?" He asked.

"Why do you think they put us together?" I asked in response. He shrugged and we both listened to the announcer from the T.V.

"...Now the last two tributes this pair really shocked everyone! The power couple from district twelve gets…. Matching twelve's! That is the highest score I think I have ever seen, and from the same district as well! This power couple has really got some luck on their side…" Gates shut off the T.V.

"This is amazing! But I still will not allow that kind of behavior from you two anymore." She said smiling and then putting on a strict face. I rolled my eyes at her.

"You two have been picked for another interview before you start, people are going to want to hear your story of how you got such high marks. Play up the lover act like last time and sponsors will be begging to send you things." She told us we nodded where we were supposed to and not really listening to anything she was saying. I groaned I used up all my 'lover' tricks last time I wasn't sure how I could keep this up, I knew I was having very real very strong feelings for Rick but if I let myself fall for him, he could easily get killed in the games. I groaned again. This was much harder than I thought it would be.

"Rick, do you have any ideas for this interview?" I asked him. He looked at me curiously.

"What do you mean?" I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Like last time when I started saying mean things about you and you said nice things about me, we need to be in love. Do you have any ideas of how to show it?" I looked at him expectantly.

"Well no not really maybe we could just put ourselves in that state of mind before we answer the questions." He said eyeing me watching for my reaction.

"I get what you're saying when we answer the questions we should think about how in love we're pretending to be and answer accordingly." I said. He nodded.

"Kate maybe we should practice, being in love." He gave me a heated look.

"Okay that's probably a good idea." I nodded. He took a step into my personal space. Had I been younger or less experience I would have stutteringly asked him what he was doing, but I was sixteen I was confident and I wasn't about to back down just because a hot guy with an amazing personality that I was really attracted to had invaded my personal space.

"I think we should start with this." He said leaning into me he tilted his head and paused giving me time to walk away if I wanted to. I didn't move my eyes fluttered close as he softly pressed his lips to mine with a sweetness that would rot my teeth. I groaned at the feeling of his lips gently taking control of mine. Even though I felt like I could stay this way forever I wanted more, I needed to taste him I licked his lips silently begging for entrance and explored the inside of his mouth for a while before I had to pull back because the need for air was too strong. Kissing Rick was unlike anything else, my whole body flooded with a warm pleasure and I felt like I could do anything. In that moment I was invincible.

"Amazing." Rick uttered.

"I'm going to bed." I told him and practically sprinted to my room. Once I got there though I fell to the floor and had a full out panic attack. I really needed to call Lanie. I quickly dialed the phone number of her house.

"Hello, Mrs. Parish speaking." Lanie's mom said.

"Hi, its Kate may I please speak to Lanie?" I said nervously.

"Oh, of course Kate here she is now, Lanie phone!" I grinned, thank goodness she was home.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lanie its Kate."

"Girl why didn't you call sooner? I swear, something is up with you and that boy! I mean did you see your interview? Girl he is dead straight in love with you…"

"Lanie, he kissed me."

"…I'm telling you that boy wants to be your man and wake up next to you every morning…wait did you just say he kissed you? Oh my gosh Kate! I need details how was it was he nervous? Were you nervous? Was there tongue? Did you show him your moves? Are you going to kiss him again? Do you like him? Do you love him? Do you want to have little babies with him?"

"Yes he kissed me. We were talking about how to play up the lover act we put on for the cameras and he was like 'maybe we should practice being in love' he kissed me with a sweet gentleness I didn't know he had in him and no I don't think either of us were nervous, yes I kind of thrust my tongue into his mouth umm no I didn't show him any moves Lanie but I'm scared to think of what you mean by moves. I know I have to kiss him at least one more time in the games for everyone to see per our mentors orders but I would like to kiss him again besides that and Lanie, I really, really like him. I don't think its love yet but that takes time and I am not even going to answer your last question. "There was silence.

"Lanie?"

"LANIE?"

"Are you okay? LANIE!"

"! Girl you do not know how long I have been waiting for this, I'll see you when you come home." And with that she hung up leaving me speechless and sleepy.


	4. Chapter 4

I groaned. This was it. This was the shelter we had been trying to find.

"Rick! I found it! Come here!" I told him, I was standing at the mouth of a cave, the entrance was tiny but it opened up inside to a bigger room.

"We can stay here, we'll leave for food but once there's only one other person left we come out get rid of them and we've won. The cannon already boomed about sixteen times, the bloodbath at the cornucopia was worse than I've ever seen before. There are eight of us left." I said grinning. We squeezed into the cave.

"I'll go get dinner." I said and easily climbed out of the cave. I shot two birds in record time and had them cooked within the hour. I quickly brought the meal back to Rick. When I got back to the cave I saw Rick, he was slumped over, I got a bad feeling in my gut.

"Kate, I, I was bitten, spider, sick, it crawled away, safe now, need help though." He said eyes drooping between words. I knew this was what Gates was talking about.

"No! Rick you can't die not now! I love you, you idiot!" I told him. I walked over and kissed him with everything I had. I poured my soul into that one kiss telling him that if there was any way to keep him from losing consciousness he'd better tell me. I felt a tear roll down my check, this wasn't an act, and I really did love him. I wanted to be with him, if he died I didn't want to live. I heard a beeping noise outside, I walked quick knowing it was the medicine he needed. I grabbed the package; there was a note from Gates.

"Take off his pants; inject this into his thigh like you would for an allergic reaction. He won't remember anything when he wakes up, so if you need anything else say you love him again and kiss him like that again. Damn you guys are in love." I nodded and took out a needle. I ran into the cave removing Rick's shoes and his pants he had on plain blue boxers. I quickly injected the needle into his thigh and waited. About an hour later his eyes started to flutter.

"Kate" I was immediately straddling him and asking him what was wrong.

"Rick, Rick, are you alright? What's wrong? How can I make you feel better?" I asked; I wasn't going to take my chances; I wanted to make sure he was okay. Suddenly the cannon boomed three times, I jumped every time. Rick groaned.

"What? What's wrong? Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry, tell me where it hurts! I just wasn't expecting the cannon to boom!"

"Kate stop worrying I'm fine, well, I'm distracted, but that's only because you decided to bounce up and down while sitting on my lap." I looked at him and he smiled sheepishly.

"OH! Sorry, I'll get off of you now." I said and slid off of him. He immediately put his hands in front of his boxers that were obviously tented.

"Can I have my pants please Kate?" He asked I nodded and handed them to him, he awkwardly put his pants on while still trying to cover up his body's natural reaction. As the night progressed it got hotter and hotter, Rick and I were not affected by the heat though, because we were underground in the cave, luckily Rick and I remembered that in an underground cave the temperature always stays at 50 degrees making it a good shelter. The cannon boomed twice more that night.

"Kate lets go outside." Rick said suddenly. I nodded. We easily climbed out of the cave. Rick grinned at me.

"There's only one person left." I nodded and bit my lip. I looked at him, raised my eyes to the highest tree I saw. He nodded so I started to climb, with him soon following me. I reached the highest branch that would hold both our weight and looked out around the arena. I saw near the cornucopia was a boy with light blonde hair sharpening his knife. I touched Rick's shoulder and pointed to the boy. He looked at me and suddenly overcome with emotion I wrapped my arms around him, it was real, our chance to live and be together was more than just a faraway dream, it was right in front of me.

"Rick we are going to make it out of here!" He nodded at me.

"Let's go." I easily climbed down the tree we had used to find our opponent and quickly made way to our hopefully unprotected adversary.

We reached the cornucopia and the blonde boy turned to look at us we just watched each other for a long moment before he was flying towards us. He had obviously taken a great leap I smiled and easily with one swoop of my arm ripped the boy out of the air. He was up off the ground quickly though. His hand came up with a knife to my throat but I simply ducked and swept his feet out from under him with one movement of my leg. He groaned and dropped the knife but he didn't give up yet, he tried I various ways to pull me to the ground with him but I remained upright. Finally he got up again; I threw a solid kick to his ribcage sending him backwards. He came back with a vengeance though and struck my jaw. I let my body crumple and was about to kick his knee when Rick suddenly burst into the fight, he was a blur of punches and kicks twists and grabs and all too soon the boy had fell, I got up and saw what Rick was gaping at, the boy had fallen on his own knife, killing himself. I turned to Rick and hugged him.

"We did it! We're going home! "

"Kate, I'm so sorry! I should have never let you get hit by that monster, and you fell, are you alright? We need to get you checked out!" I grinned.

"I'm fine Rick, what kind of fighter would I be if I couldn't take a punch? Anyway that was an act, I was going to kick his knee when you started going crazy on him." He looked at me and laughed.

"I love you so much!" He said gleefully.

"As I love you." I captured my lips with his; smiling into a kiss from the lips I would never get used to.


End file.
